Glock G30 Kaboom

[Powderman]

That's a pretty light load. Even if it was a double charge, it should have still been safe. I've shot 7.0 Clays with no problems.

Sorry to rain on your parade, but if you are loading 7.0 grains of Clays with a 230 grain bullet, you are shooting a bomb.

The max load from the Hodgdon website for Clays for the 230 grain bullet is 4.0 grains. Period. You risk grave injury or death with a load that is 3.0 over the published max.

Maybe some copper plated--I mean "copperized"--bullets are different, but the ones I've had experience with were no better than plain lead.

Amen.

I went directly to the source--a lengthly phone call to Glock in Smyrna, GA. This is what I learned there, and also from a Glock Armorer's school:

The factory barrel on Glocks are done using polygonal rifling. This is accomplished by placing a barrel blank on a mandrel with the reverse image of the rifling. This is then placed in a rotary hammer machine, and has the h-e-double toothpicks beaten out of it. The mandrel is then removed.

The result? An extremely smooth barrel. Smoother internal finish than grease on glass. So smooth in fact that lead or copper plated bullets actually skid across the first part of the bore before accepting the rifling. This builds up quickly, and eventually will cause the bullet being fired to hang up momentarily in the bore. When that happens, the pressure has to go somewhere.

So far, I have loaded more than 20K rounds for that most troublesome of calibers, the .40 SW. All of it is fired from two Glock handguns.

I have never bulged a case, and I have never blown up a Glock. Why?

I do NOT load to the max. EVER.
I make sure the round is assembled correctly.
I use medium burning powders in the .40. I especially like Herco, Blue Dot and AA #7.

If you MUST shoot lead, spend a few bucks. Get a conventionally rifled barrel.

 

[artherd]

1) My buddy is a college graduated (he can read), mechanically inclined (he owns, manages and operates an auto repair facility). He has reloaded thousands of rounds without prior incident.
2) Round in question was from a Winchester white box value pak that I picked up a Wally world a few weeks ago. Was once fired from my Dan Wesson Patriot 1911.
3) Reloaded on a Dillion 650 press. 3.6 gains of Hodgdon Clays powder. Copperized 230gr bullet from National Bullet. Federal 150 primer.

Your friend must have fed a double-charge, depsite his 'pedigree'.

He was also stupid enough to use fired brass from a DIFFERENT gun than his.

Did you say "copperised?" Is he aware those are not much different than lead?


Aparently he CAN'T read.


Does he get pissed when his new porsche gets ruined because he put leaded gas in?

Does he sue Ford when his F-350 disel explodes after he puts 97 octane in?

 

[Sarge111]

ArcAngel...

Thanks- and you can quote me anytime you want, as long as I'm right. Like you, I shot the 1911 and shot it a LOT for close to 20 years. I reloaded for it, experimented with 255 grains SWC's, and generally crowded the envelope on occasion. I even bulged a little brass 'along the learning curve'. No KaPleweys. Never knew of one, within my LE circle and other friends, during that time- many of whom became diehard 1911 people.

The .40+ Glocks hadn't been on the market 5 years, and that same circle of folks produced three of them. Good friend of mine 'powdered' a 10mm Glock on the first shot, with a reload that had given fine service in Colt Deltas. Two .40's popped on regional police ranges- factory loads. And then there are those annoying NCIC bulletins over the years.

I don't hate Glocks. One of the best shooting, most reliable little .45's I ever lit up was an early G-30. An officer had brought it to a range exercise I was running, and asked me to check it for sight regulation. I couldn't seem to miss the head of a B-27 with it at 20 yards. That officer offered to sell it to me at a good price a few months later, and I really hated to turn it down.

Why did I? Because I just don't trust the dang things not to crack up. There isn't ANY brand or type of gun that I am so enamored with, that I would carry it into harm's way- knowing that it might suffer a catastrophic failure, when it was needed most. Somebody could die as a result, and it just might be me.

I honestly don't know how the people, responsible for arming police departments with these things, sleep at night. I flat won't carry one (in .40 or bigger) and when the day comes that I don't have a choice anymore, it'll be time to move on.

Good visiting with you all on this- thanks for keeping it civil.

 

[Brat7748]

artherd

Take a swim in the bay and cool off

 

[wally]

GMC deisels can be run on gasoline in an emergency without blowing up.

--wally.

 

[BluesBear]

That's strange. On an episode of the TV series Batman they spelled it KA-BOOM?

 

[Rockstar]

wally, did you ever run a GMC or any other diesel on gasoline? How long did it run?

 

[Dean Speir]

Erratum…

Arc Angel writes:

Question #1: ‘Where does Glock provide this warning against lead?’ Answer: In the owner’s manual.

As jc2 sugests:

Only very recently (within the last one to two years). I have a Glock (and have had several more), and none of the manuals include any warning concerning the use of lead bullets

I have never (and no, that's not hyperbole!) seen this addressed in any of the Glock Manuals dating back to 1986… several years ago I challenged Glock's Chris Edwards on this and defied him to show me where in the manual it was so stated, and he couldn't because, unlike Ragu, it isn't in there!

Where it is specifically addressed is in the Glock Annual, the vanity book published every January by Harris (Combat Handguns, etc.) It's been included as a Q&A for at least the past two years, and explains about the polygonal barrels and lead!

I imagine that the next time the gnomes of Deutsch-Wagram get around to printing a new manual, it will finally be included.

 

[Tag]

The manual that came w/ my Glock 17 stated clearly in red lettering that shooting lead was a bad idea. Purchased new over a year ago.

 

[tiberius]

The manual that came w/ my Glock 17 stated clearly in red lettering that shooting lead was a bad idea. Purchased new over a year ago.

Tag,

What page number please. I just bought my GF a G17 for Xmas and my manual does not seem to have such a warning.

thanks

 

[Rockstar]

I'd still like to know how long a GM diesel will run on gasoline!

 

[7.62FullMetalJacket]

Probably long enough to buy a new one

 

[Ivy Mike]

Not all plastic guns have these problems. I'm happy to say that my FN Forty-Nine in .40S&W sports a fully supported chamber and the manual says it is designed with safety limiuts well above SAAMI specs.

I think a few safety precautions would help in these cases
1. Only fire your own reloads
2. Inspect every round you put in the gun
3. If something doesn't feel/look/sound/smell right...STOP!